Nazi Rudolf Hess Exhumed From Grave

The Takeaway

The corpse of Adolf Hitler’s one-time top deputy Rudolf Hess was exhumed and his grave destroyed, according to authorities in Germany. Hess’s tombstone, which read “I dared” in German, had become a shrine for neo-Nazis according to the Lutheran church in Wunsiedel, where he was buried. Hess was burried in Wunsiedel according to his wishes after committing suicide in prison at age 93 in 1987. His remains will be cremated and scattered at sea. Dr. Effraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office, and author of “Operation Last Chance: One Man’s Quest to Bring Nazi Criminals to Justice,” is known as “the last Nazi hunter.” He talks about who Hess was, the ongoing neo-Nazi problem in the world, and why it was important to raze Hess’s grave.

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